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Now You See It, Now You Don’T: Flushing Hosts Prior To Experimentation Can Predict Their Responses To Brood Parasitism, Daniel Hanley, Peter Samas, Josef Heryán, Mark E. Hauber, Tomáš Grim

Publications and Research

Brood parasitic birds lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, leaving hosts to raise their offspring. To understand parasite-host coevolutionary arms races, many studies have examined host responses to experimentally introduced eggs. However, attending parents often need to be flushed from their nests to add experimental eggs. If these birds witness parasitism events, they may recognize and reject foreign eggs more readily than parents who did not. We found that, after being flushed, female blackbirds, Turdus merula, remained close to their nests. Flushed females were more likely to eject foreign eggs and did so more quickly than females that …

Investigating Seed Dispersal Distances And Long Distance Dispersal Mechanisms Of The Invasive Plant, Alliaria Petiolata, Christopher Loebach

Theses and Dissertations

Alliaria petiolata, an herbaceous plant, has aggressively invaded North American woodlands. It has been extensively studied to understand why it is a successful invader, but certain aspects of its biology have been understudied such as seed dispersal distances and long distance dispersal mechanisms (LDDM). My thesis experimentally measured A. petiolata seed dispersal distances and determined if epizoochory (external animal transport) is a LDDM. To measure dispersal distances, seed traps were placed around three A. petiolata seed point sources to capture dispersed seeds at increasing distances away from the point sources. Eight mathematical functions that describe dispersal distances were fitted to …

Low Mitochondrial Dna Diversity In An Ancient Population From China: Insight, Yu Dong, Chunxiang Li, Fengshi Luan, Zhenguang Li, Hongjie Li, Yinqiu Cui, Hui Zhou, Ripan S. Malhi

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

To gain insight into the social organization of a population associated with the Dawenkou period, ancient DNA analysis of 18 individuals from human remains from Fujia site, Shandong Province, China was completed. Directly radiocarbon dated to 4800–4500 cal BP, the Fujia site is assumed to be associated with a transitional phase from matrilineal clans to patrilineal monogamous families. Our results reveal a low mitochondrial DNA diversity from the site and population. Combined with Y-chromosome data, the pattern observed at the Fujia site is most consistent with a matrilineal community. The patterns also suggest that the bond of marriage were de-emphasized …

P-29 Ovulation Synchrony As An Adaptive Response To Egg Cannibalism In A Seabird Colony, Sumiko Weir

Honors Scholars & Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium Programs

Every-other-day egg-laying synchrony has been demonstrated in the Glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens) colony at Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge ,where cannibalism is the predominant cause of egg loss. Here we show that (1) eggs are most likely to be cannibalized within the first 24 hours after they are laid, and (2) the odds that an egg is cannibalized within the first 24 hours decreases with an increase in the number of eggs laid on that day. This suggests that egg-laying synchrony functions as an adaptive response to cannibalism by maximizing an egg’s chance of survival during its most …

P-19 The Behavior Of Glaucous-Winged Gull Egg Cannibals, Ashley A. Reichert

Honors Scholars & Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium Programs

Cannibalism leads to a variety of behavioral and demographic consequences among numerous taxa. Although multiple studies have linked cannibalism to egg and chick failure in gull populations, few characterizations of gull cannibal behavior exist. During the 2014 breeding season, we observed territories of 16 Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens) egg cannibal specialists on Protection Island, Washington, USA. We also monitored cannibal foraging behavior, reproductive success, and colony-wide egg loss. Cannibals employed a variety of foraging behaviors and exhibited significantly lower reproductive success than non-cannibals. Future study of the Protection Island gull colony will monitor trends in cannibalism relative to environmental change.

Hemochromatosis: Niche Construction And The Genetic Domino Effect In The European Neolithic, John M. Mccullough, Kathleen M. Heath, Alexis M. Smith

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is caused by a potentially lethal recessive gene (HFE, C282Y allele) that increases iron absorption and reaches polymorphic levels in Northern European populations. Because persons carrying the allele absorb iron more readily than non-carriers, it has often been suggested HFE is an adaptation to anemia. We hypothesize positive selection for HFE began during or after the European Neolithic with the adoption of an iron-deficient high grain and dairying diet and consequent anemia, a finding confirmed in Neolithic and later European skeletons. HFE frequency compared with rate of lactase persistence in Eurasia yields a positive linear …

Ship-Induced Solitary Riemann Waves Of Depression In Venice Lagoon, Kevin E. Parnall, Tarmo Soomere, Luca Zaggia, Artem Rodin, Giuliano Lorenzetti, John Rapaglia, Gian Marco Scarpaf

Biology Faculty Publications

We demonstrate that ships of moderate size, sailing at low depth Froude numbers (0.37–0.5) in a navigation channel surrounded by shallow banks, produce depressions with depths up to 2.5 m. These depressions (Bernoulli wakes) propagate as long-living strongly nonlinear solitary Riemann waves of depression substantial distances into Venice Lagoon. They gradually become strongly asymmetric with the rear of the depression becoming extremely steep, similar to a bore. As they are dynamically similar, air pressure fluctuations moving over variable-depth coastal areas could generate meteorological tsunamis with a leading depression wave followed by a devastating bore-like feature.

Terrestrial Lidar-Based Automated Counting Of Swiftlet Nests In The Caves Of Gomantong, Sabah, Borneo., Donald A. Mcfarlane, Warren Roberts, Manfred Buchroithner, Guy Van Rentergem, Joyce Lundberg, Stefan Hautz

International Journal of Speleology

High resolution terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) within the Simud Hitam cave, Gomantong, has proven successful at discriminating the nests of black-nest swiftlets from roosting bats in high, inaccessible locations. TLS data was imported into ArcGIS software, allowing for semi-automated counting of nests. Spatial analysis of nest locations has established a maximum packing density of 268 nests/m² in optimum locations, which correspond to roof slopes of >20 degrees. Rhinolophid bats roost adjacent to, but not within nest locations, preferring roof surfaces close to horizontal.

Environmental Impacts On Life History In Container Breeding Mosquitoes, Kathleen May Westby

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I explore different ways that the environment impacts life history in mosquitoes in ways that may alter vectorial capacity. In chapter I, I tested if short-term sugar deprivation experienced after exposure to La Crosse virus altered infection rates in Aedes albopictus and if sugar treatment and virus infection status altered blood feeding behavior and fecundity. I found no evidence that sugar deprivation impacted infection rates or fecundity. Sugar deprivation did increase blood feeding. There was no effect of infection status on blood feeding or fecundity. In chapter II, I tested for effects of seasonal cues (temperature and …

Shifts In Attack Behavior Of An Important Kelp Forest Predator Within Marine Reserves, J. S. Berriman, M. C. Kay, D. C. Reed, A. Rassweiler, D. A. Goldstein, William G. Wright

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Marine reserves have become increasingly valuable tools with which to manage ecosystems. These reserves consistently restore populations of top predators, often reducing availability of their favored prey. We hypothesized that such prey reduction in reserves causes protected predators to alter their attack behavior to include less palatable prey, potentially amplifying top-down effects on community structure. To test this hypothesis, we presented the relatively unpalatable sea hare Aplysia californica to freely foraging spiny lobsters Panulirus interruptus in 4 marine no-take reserves, each paired with an adjacent fished area. We found that lobsters only attacked sea hares inside reserves, where lobster density …

Tallgrass Prairie Vegetation Response To Spring Fires And Bison Grazing, Stephen L. Winter, Brady W. Allred, Karen R. Hickman, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Spring fires in tallgrass prairie can create environmental conditions conducive to plant growth in the subsequent growing season. Following fires, burned areas can also be attractive to grazing animals such as bison (Bison bison). Sustained grazing activity within recently burned areas can alter vegetation structure relative to nearby landscape patches that haven’t burned recently. In 2007, we collected data on bison grazing activity, vegetation structure, and the growth and reproduction of a perennial forb, Arnoglossum plantagineum, in Oklahoma tallgrass prairie. We compared these variables in landscape patches that had burned in the spring of 2007 to measurements …

Fighting Microbial Drug Resistance: A Primer On The Role Of Evolutionary Biology In Public Health, Gabriel Perron, R. Inglis, Pleuni Pennings, Sarah Cobey

Biology Department Faculty Works

Although microbes have been evolving resistance to antimicrobials for millennia, the spread of resistance in pathogen populations calls for the development of new drugs and treatment strategies. We propose that successful, long-term resistance management requires a better understanding of how resistance evolves in the first place. This is an opportunity for evolutionary biologists to engage in public health, a collaboration that has substantial precedent. Resistance evolution has been an important tool for developing and testing evolutionary theory, especially theory related to the genetic basis of new traits and constraints on adaptation. The present era is no exception. The articles in …

Rohner Creek Flood Control Project Research, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

Compilation of deeds, tax assessments, census records, newspaper references and directories relating to the Rohner Creek Flood Control Project.

Date range: 1902-1962

Rohner Creek Flood Control Project: Research, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

Compilation of research materials that include deeds, tax assessments, newspaper references and directories.

Cuban Treefrogs, Osteopilus Septentrionalis (Duméril & Bibron 1841) (Anura: Hylidae), And Other Nonindigenous Herpetofauna Interdicted In Grenada, Lesser Antilles., Louis A. Somma, Paul R. Graham

Papers in Herpetology

The number of introduced nonindigenous species of amphibians and reptiles within the greater Caribbean, including Grenada, is escalating and has become an ever-increasing critical conservation concern (Daudin and de Silva 2011; Powell et al. 2011; Powell and Henderson 2012). The amount of development, tourism, and consequent import commerce is increasing, requiring careful regulation of the pet trade and fauna introduced for biological control as well as diligence in cargo inspection. Herein we document the first records of nonindigenous Cuban Treefrogs, Osteopilus septentrionalis (Duméril and Bibron 1841), interdicted from cargo, along with recent interceptions of two species of nonindigenous lizards already …

Building Resilience Into Quaking Aspen Management, Paul C. Rogers

Aspen Bibliography

Throughout the 20^th century, forest scientists and land managers were guided by principles of succession with regard to aspen forests. The historical model depicted aspen as a "pioneer species" that colonizes a site following disturbance and is eventually overtopped by conifers. Aspen systems are more diverse, however, than previously described. Not only are there distinctive seral and stable aspen, but variations within these types require appropriate management considerations (Rogers et al. 2014). We recommend a strategic approach to aspen resilience that builds upon traditional aspen ecology and incorporates knowledge of varying aspen functional types, effective monitoring, historical disturbance ecology, …

Predation Threat Alters Composition And Functioning Of Bromeliad Ecosystems, Edd Hammill, Trisha B. Atwood, Diane S. Srivastava

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Predators can have dramatic effects on food web structure and ecosystem processes. However, the total effect of predators will be a combination of prey removal due to consumption and non-consumptive effects (NCEs) mediated through changes to prey behavioral, morphological, or life history traits induced to reduce predation risk. In this study, we examined how consumptive and NCEs alter community composition and ecosystem function using the aquatic ecosystem housed within tropical bromeliads. We allowed the recolonization of emptied bromeliads containing either no predators, caged predators (NCEs only), or uncaged predators (NCEs and consumptive effects) and recorded densities of all macro-invertebrates, microbial …

Managing Ungulate Browsing For Sustainable Aspen, Samuel B. St. Clair, Paul C. Rogers, Michael R. Kuhns

Aspen Bibliography

In montane forests of the Intermountain West composition and function are often defined by what happens with quaking aspen. Aspen is a pioneer species that regenerates quickly following disturbance and then establishes ecological conditions under which the rest of the biological community develops. Quaking aspen forests have high biodiversity and provide ideal habitat for many animals. Aspen regeneration from root sprouts is highly palatable to wildlife and livestock. When browsing becomes chronic it leads to regeneration failure and eventual loss of aspen forests and associated species. Ironically, this can result in habitat and forage loss for wildlife and livestock. Here …

Addressing Misconceptions About Evolution, Sarah O'Leary-Driscoll, Don Dosch

Evolution

"Leave with effective ways to identify and address misconceptions about evolution, with a particular focus on supporting explanations with evidence."

Temporal Patterns Of Nutrition Dependence In Secondary Sexual Traits And Their Varying Impacts On Male Mating Success, Malcolm F. Rosenthal, Eileen A. Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

Variation in the quantity of nutrients ingested over an individual’s lifetime is likely to differentially affect distinct male secondary sexual traits and courtship signals, potentially providing females with information about a male’s past and present foraging history. We hypothesize that female choice is thus influenced by a male’s lifetime foraging history. To test this, we manipulated the quantity of nutrients (i.e. prey items) available to male wolf spiders, Schizocosa stridulans, using a fully crossed 2 × 2 design with low versus high prey quantity across juvenile and adult life stages, and assessed the impact of these diet treatments on male …

Observational Learning In The Jumping Spider Phidippus Audax, Robert M. Adams

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Observational learning is a complex form of learning most frequently studied in social vertebrates. However, evidence for social learning exists in several invertebrate species Evidence of invertebrate observational learning also exists, though to a lesser extent. This study addresses observational learning in a jumping spider (Phidippus audax) through video playback. My results suggest that while observational learning is occurring, the exact mechanism in use remains unclear. Spiders that saw a conspecific satiate itself on a prey item readily attacked a similar prey item when exposed to a live prey item. However, spiders exposed to a conspecific rejecting or …

Identification Of Saccharina Groenlandica (Phaeophyceae) Around The Svalbard Archipelago: Dna Barcoding Using Cytochrome C Oxidase Subunit 1 (Coi), Anniken Lydon

Master's Theses

In the Arctic, brown algae (kelps) and seaweeds are ecologically important: providing habitat, protection, and nutrients for invertebrate and vertebrate species living in nearshore environments. Migrations of biota between the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans have occurred periodically during Earth’s history leading to colonization of the Arctic Ocean. Around 3.5 Mya the “Great Trans-Arctic Biotic Interchange” occurred and the Laminariales order of kelp, thought to be of North Pacific origin, underwent a massive radiation and speciation event around the Arctic Ocean. Phylogenetic analysis performed on “Laminaria-like” specimens collected from six sampling locations around the Svalbard Archipelago identified …

Native Small Mammal Use Of An Invasive Grass: Heermann's Kangaroo Rats (Dipodomys Heermanni) And Veldt Grass (Ehrharta Calycina) In Coastal California, Juliana P. Trunzo

Master's Theses

Invasive species are generally regarded as detrimental to native communities because they cause increased competition and community structure alterations. There is therefore a critical need to understand the ecological processes underlying the establishment and spread of invasive species. While most studies to date have focused on the role of competition in species invasions, trophic dynamics may also play a fundamental role in the establishment and spread of non-natives, especially in cases when a non-native species experiences differential predation pressure relative to a native competitor. Herein I explore the potential for differential granivory pressure by a native rodent (Heermann’s kangaroo rat, …

The Effects Of Tetracycline And Ibuprofen On Common Duckweed, Lemna Minor, John Von Drasek

2015 Honors Council of Illinois Region Student Symposium

Pharmaceuticals and chemicals are finding their way into drinking water by means of household and industrial sewage. This study explores the effects of two common pharmaceuticals—tetracycline and ibuprofen—on the growth of Common Duckweed, Lemna minor. The number of duckweed per test tube for each treatment was compared after 37 days. Tetracycline was not found to effect clonal growth of duckweed. There was significant difference in duckweed count between the ibuprofen treatment and the control treatment with ibuprofen inhibiting the growth of the duckweed. It is possible that the tetracycline prevented the protein synthesis of any harmful bacteria growing with the …

Global Warming And Population Responses Among Great Plains Birds, Paul A. Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

Based on an analysis of 47 years (1967–2014) of Audubon Christmas Bird Counts (CBC), evidence for population changes and shifts in early winter (late December) ranges of nearly 150 species of birds in the Great Plains states is summarized, a region defined as including the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Texas panhandle. The rationale for this study had its origins in Terry Root’s 1988 Atlas of North American Wintering Birds. Root’s landmark study provided a baseline for evaluating the nationwide winter distributions of 253 North American birds in the mid-20th century, using data from the National Audubon Society’s …

Predicting Invasion Rates For Phragmites Australis, Rachel Nydegger, Jacob Duncan, James A. Powell

Browse All Undergraduate research

In wetlands of Utah and southern Idaho as well as estuaries of the east coast, the ten-foot tall invasive grass Phragmites australis can be found near waterways, where it outcompetes native plants and degrades wildlife habitat. Phragmites australis is an obligate out-crossing plant that can spread sexually through seed disper- sal, or asexually via stolons and rhi- zomes (Kettenring and Mock 2012). Small patches are usually a single genetic individual, spreading vegetatively (and slowly) via runners; when patches become genetically diverse viable seeds are produced and invasion rates can be increase by an order of magnitude (Kettenring et al. 2011)

Stand Dynamics, Humus Type And Water Balance Explain Aspen Long Term Productivity Across Canada, Kenneth A. Anyomi, Francois Lorenzetti, Yves Bergeron, Alain Leduc

Aspen Bibliography

This study examined the relative importance of soil, stand development and climate hypotheses in driving productivity for a species that is widely distributed in North America. Inventory plots, 3548 of such, either dominated by aspen or made up of species mixture of which aspen occurs in dominant canopy position were sampled along a longitudinal gradient from Quebec to British Columbia. Site index (SI), was used as a measure of productivity, and soil, climate and stand attributes were correlated with site index in order to determine their effects on productivity. Results show a decline in productivity with high moisture deficit. Soil …

Butterfly Biology, Joshua Feingold

Quadrivium: A Journal of Multidisciplinary Scholarship

A photographic exploration of butterflies from larvae to adults in Davie, Florida.

North Or South? Niche Separation Of Endemic Red-Legged Kittiwakes And Sympatric Black-Legged Kittiwakes During Their Non-Breeding Migrations, Rachael Orben, David Irons, Rosana Paredes, Daniel Roby, Richard Phillips, Scott A. Shaffer

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

Aim Species that breed sympatrically often occupy different foraging niches to mitigate competition for prey. When resource availability declines at the end of the breeding season, some animals migrate to regions with more favourable environmental conditions. When these life-history traits combine, foraging habitat preferences may continue to influence migration patterns and habitat utilization. The Bering Sea is home to the red-legged kittiwake (RLKI), Rissa brevirostris, which is endemic, and the black-legged kittiwake (BLKI), Rissa tridactyla, which has a circumpolar breeding distribution. Since the 1970s, numbers of RLKIs at the largest colony have declined and then recovered, whilst the BLKI population …

Arcata Marsh History: Union Wharf, Mad River Canal, Reclamation, Lumber Mills, City Designs, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

A report of the Arcata Marsh including information about Wiyot residents, white settlement, the Union Wharf, the Mad River Canal, the abandoned wharf, reclamation, lumber mills, and city designs. Includes many maps and photographs.